System and method for conversation discovery

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of a system and method for sharing content across a social network can include: receiving content (e.g., a content update) for a content channel (e.g., at a channel node of a set of remote channel nodes); assigning a content identifier to the content; transmitting the content with the content identifier to a user account associated with the content channel; and modifying the content channel with the content based on the content identifier.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/713,157, filed 22 Sep. 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 15/497,016, filed 25 Apr. 2017, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/327,241, filed on 25Apr. 2016, and U.S. Provisional Application 62/434,846, filed on 15 Dec.2016, all of which are incorporated in their entirety by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to the social networking systems field,and more specifically to a new and useful system and method for contentsharing in the social networking systems field.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIGS. 1A-1C are flow diagrams of embodiments of the method,

FIGS. 2A-2B are schematic representations of embodiments of the system,

FIG. 3 is an example of content presentation based on relevance,

FIG. 4 is an example of content modification,

FIG. 5 is an example of relevance determination, comparing two channelsassociated with a user account,

FIG. 6 is an example of content version tracking,

FIG. 7 is an example of recommendation determination using the dataobjects associated with the user account,

FIG. 8 is an example of a contextual pocket,

FIG. 9 is an example of an application development tool, and

FIG. 10 is an example of content generation.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following description of the preferred embodiments of the inventionis not intended to limit the invention to these preferred embodiments,but rather to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use thisinvention.

1. Overview

As shown in FIGS. 1A-1C, embodiments of a method 200 for sharing contentacross a social network (SN) can include: receiving content for acontent channel S210; assigning a content identifier to the contentS220; transmitting the content with the content identifier to a useraccount S230; and modifying the content channel with the content basedon the content identifier S240.

Embodiments of the method 200 are preferably implemented by the system100, embodiments of which can include, as shown in FIG. 2A: a SN systemincluding content channels associated with data objects (e.g., useraccounts, content, etc.); and a set of SN clients 120 operating on a setof user devices. The system 100 can additionally or alternativelyinclude: a channel database 130, object features, contextual pockets,and/or any other suitable components. In a specific example, as shown inFIG. 2B, the system 100 can include a distributed SN (e.g., fullydistributed, pseudo-distributed, etc.).

The system 100 and method 200 can function to evaluate and presentcontextually relevant content (e.g., text, images, video, other media,etc.) to a user. The system 100 and method 200 can additionally oralternatively function to distribute functionality across a distributedSN system to confer improvements on network efficiency, processingspeed, data protection (e.g., through data redundancy), contentpersonalization, and/or other suitable aspects. However, the system 100and method 200 can have any suitable functionality. One or moreinstances of the method 200 and/or processes described herein can beperformed asynchronously (e.g., sequentially), concurrently (e.g., inparallel; concurrently on different threads for parallel computing toimprove system processing ability for serving personalized content touser; etc.), in temporal relation to a trigger event, and/or in anyother suitable order at any suitable time and frequency by and/or usingone or more instances of the system 100, components, and/or entitiesdescribed herein. However, the system 100 and/or method 200 can beconfigured in any suitable manner.

2. Benefits

Conventional social networking systems can suffer from severaldrawbacks. First, conventional systems can offer minimal passivediscovery of relevant content, where users can only discover contentposted by other social networking system users that they are explicitlyconnected to (e.g., through the respective social graph), or by activelysearching for the relevant content. Second, conventional systems canoffer minimal personalization due to constraints stemming from theircomputational architecture. Third, the design of conventional systemscan detract from user experience, which can be limited in conferringuser's the ability to efficiently and creatively share content.Embodiments of the system 100 and/or method 200 can confertechnologically-rooted solutions to at least the challenges describedabove.

First, by automatically selecting and presenting content relevant to auser, the technology can enable a user to passively discover newcontent, new conversations (e.g., through the new content), newconnections (e.g., through the new conversations), and/or otherpersonalized content. The technology can further refine selection ofrelevant content by leveraging non-binary associations between differentuser accounts (e.g., a first and second user can be explicitly linked asfriends, temporarily linked as respondents to the others' comments,weakly linked as viewers of the same conversation, etc.), wheredifferent association levels can weight the content relevancedifferently.

Second, the technology can enable a personalized user experience byresolving globally unique identifiers into locally unique identifiers(e.g., for user accounts, content channels, other data objects, etc.).For example, there can be multiple content channels or users with thesame name (but different global identifiers), and each user can seetheir user or channel name as the “real” or “only” user or channel withthat name.

Third, the technology can confer improvements in computer-relatedtechnology (e.g., in the fields of social networks, network efficiency,distributed computer systems, etc.) by facilitating computer performanceof functions not previously performable. In a first example, thetechnology can leverage recent advances in distributed computing toefficiently serve personalized content to a plurality of users whileprotecting the associated data. In a second example, the technology canapply computer-implemented rules (e.g., feature engineering rules) forextracting content relevance features usable in determining contentrelevance of user-generated content to other users, and/or for othersuitable purposes.

Fourth, the technology can confer technical solutions necessarily rootedin computer technology to overcome issues specifically arising withcomputer technology (e.g., issues associated with providing an organicuser experience for interfacing with a digital social network; servingpersonalized digital content to users of a social networkingapplication; etc.). In a first example, the technology can uniquelyidentify every piece of content generated within the social networkingsystem (e.g., with a hash identifying the content and the parentchannel). This can confer several benefits. First, when a snippet of thecontent (“chatter”) is surfaced in a channel, the content itself canfunction as a hyperlink to the source channel (e.g., the parent channel)and/or source content (e.g., the content itself), thereby reducing thenumber of steps required to access the source channel. The hyperlink canadditionally or alternatively link to the location within the channelproximal the content, to provide context around the content. Second,uniquely identifying every piece of content can allow the content to beeasily changed by secondary users (“remixed”) while tracking the sourcecontent from which the remixed content was derived (e.g., parent versionof the content). Third, by tracking the content dissemination path(e.g., through chatter, resultant actions taken on the chatter,remixing, etc.), the technology can generate a rich data source(“hyperconversation”), which can be used to train content relevancemodules, to determine auto-complete suggestions relevant to a user, todetermine recommendations relevant to a user (e.g., restaurantrecommendations), and/or used in any other suitable manner.

In a second example, the technology can automatically recognize a set ofwildcards, where each wildcard can automatically trigger a predeterminedaction. In a first specific example, an “@user” reference canautomatically send the surrounding content to a second user account,locally identified by an SN client as “@user” but globally identified bya globally unique identifier assigned to the second user account (e.g.,where the SN client resolves the local identifier into the globallyunique identifier). In a second specific example, a “#channel” referencecan automatically open or create a channel, locally identified by“#channel” but globally identified by a globally unique identifierassigned to the channel (e.g., where the client resolves the localidentifier into the globally unique identifier). In a third specificexample, a “#channel/subchannel” can automatically open or create aconversation sub-channel (“subchannel”) that is associated with a parentchannel (“channel”), where the sub-channel can inherit properties of theparent channel (e.g., rules, users, other parameters, etc.).

In a third example, the technology can allow objects (e.g., connectedsystems) to have a user account, such that the objects can be treated asusers. This can allow commands to be directly sent to the object,instead of requiring an intermediary translation system (e.g., IFTTT).Further, directing commands to objects can enable object linking (e.g.,through composing a command linking the output of a first object to theinput of a second object). For example, composing the command “/pdf(#user/book/chapter 1, #user/book/chapter 2)” can generate a pdf fromthe content in the “chapter 1” and “chapter 2” subchannels of“#user/book”. However, the technology can enable organic actionperformance in any other suitable manner.

Fifth, the technology can confer an inherent level of data protection(e.g., content privacy, security, redundancy, etc.) and networkefficiency by leveraging a fully- or pseudo-distributed version controlsystem. As such, the technology can amount to an inventive distributionof functionality across a distributed social network including a set ofremote channel nodes (e.g., for receiving content updates for a channel,and transmitting the content updates to user accounts subscribed to thechannel; etc.), different SN clients (e.g., associated with and executedby different user devices for storing and updating local channels withcontent updates, where the local channel functionality attributed to theSN clients can enable smaller content updates to be transmitted acrossthe social network as opposed to larger sets of content associated witha channel; etc.), channel databases (e.g., for providing dataprotection), and/or other suitable components.

Sixth, the technology can confer temporal relevance by selectivelydecaying links (e.g., associations) between user accounts over timeand/or location. For example, content from a channel associated with aphysical location (e.g., a second user device's physical location) canbe deemed less relevant with increased user device distance away fromthe physical location. In a second example, content from a channel canbe deemed less relevant with increased user account neglect (e.g., as afunction of time since last user account participation or viewership ofthe channel). In a third example, content from a second user account canbe deemed less relevant with increased user account neglect of thesecond user account. However, the links can be otherwise decayed as afunction of a predetermined parameter. The technology can additionallyconfer temporal relevance by selectively expiring (e.g., deleting),summarizing, or otherwise shrinking the amount of past content that isstored. This can confer the additional benefit of reducing the amount ofmemory required to store historic content. The selective decay ofinformation can be performed per user account, per channel, or for anyother suitable data structure, which can further tailor the socialnetworking system experience to the user's preferences. The technologycan, however, provide any other suitable benefit(s) in the context ofusing non-generalized computer systems for serving content in a socialnetwork.

3. System

The SN system 110 functions as an online platform for servingpersonalized content to users of the SN. In a specific example, the SNsystem 110 can facilitate the receipt of a content update from a firstuser (e.g., a content creator; etc.) for a content channel; process thecontent update (e.g., assign a global content identifier; evaluatecontent relevance; etc.); and transmit the content update to a seconduser (e.g., a content consumer associated with a user account subscribedto the content channel; etc.). The SN system 110 preferably includes aremote computing system, but can additionally or alternatively beimplemented in any suitable form (e.g., online service, platform,application, website, etc.).

The SN system 110 preferably stores and processes data objects, whichcan function to enable content sharing between users of the SN. The dataobjects can include: content, content channels, content sub-channels,metadata (e.g., geographic locations, tags, etc.), user accounts,associated identifiers, associations between objects,computer-implemented rules (e.g., executed by a content relevance module122, a subscription request module, a subscription fulfillment module114, etc.), and/or other suitable types of data. Each data object ispreferably assigned a global identifier (e.g., by the SN system 110)identifying the data object within the SN system 110, and canadditionally or alternatively be associated with one or more localidentifiers (e.g., local to a device, user account, channel, or otherobject; specific to an association with another object, etc.) or beassociated with any other suitable identifier or data. In a firstvariation, data objects can be associated with a global identifier andlocal identifiers. In an example, the SN system 110 can resolve globalidentifiers into local identifiers (e.g., which can be transmitted withcontent updates to SN clients 120). In a second variation, data objectscan be associated exclusively with a global identifier withoutassociations with local identifiers. Additionally or alternatively, dataobjects can be associated with any suitable local identifiers (e.g.,local identifiers without association with global identifiers, etc.).

Different data objects can be associated with different identifiertypes, having different lengths, alphanumeric patterns, and/or any othersuitable parameter, but can alternatively share one or more identifiertypes. In a first variation, the identifier can link to the data object(e.g., be used as, or in, a URI). For example, the identifier for aportion of content can link to the source channel, a global channelcontaining the content (e.g., to the channel generally, to the positionof the content within the channel, etc.), to a copy of the sourcechannel stored on a subscriber's client, and/or to any other suitablesource for the source content. In a second variation, as shown in FIG.3, the identifier for a data object can be associated with and/ortransmitted with identifiers for parent data objects (e.g., an originaldata object that was modified; a content channel from which the dataobject originates and/or is otherwise associated; a user accountassociated with the content creator of the data object; etc.). In afirst example, when new content is added to a content channel, theidentifier for the new content can be sent (e.g., broadcast, retrieved,pushed, etc.) with the identifier for the channel version that the newcontent was posted to. In a second example, when a user modifiesexisting content, the identifier for the modified content can beaccompanied with the identifier (e.g., a hyperlink to the underlyingcontent) for the underlying content that was modified. Additionally oralternatively, the SN system 110 can leverage any suitable types ofidentifiers to track and/or control data object versioning in anysuitable manner (e.g., based on timestamps). However, data objects canbe configured in any suitable manner.

Data objects preferably include content, which function to communicateinformation between user accounts (e.g., for sharing; as currency;etc.). The content can be entered by the user into the SN client 120(e.g., be user-generated content entered at an entry field through atool or widget provided by the SN client), copied or referenced from asecondary source (e.g., source external the SN; dragged from a secondarychannel; prior channel history; etc.), automatically retrieved by the SNclient (e.g., based on a URI or link), automatically generated (e.g., bya bot or other software; generated from a plurality of other content),modified (e.g., associated with a content identifier), and/or otherwisedetermined. The content can include: text (e.g., textual posts, stories,etc.), references (e.g., URIs, links to articles, etc.), images (e.g.,emojis), animations (e.g., .gifs), videos (e.g., where the videos can beautomatically converted to predetermined formats, such as .gifs), audio,haptic content, games, interactive content, augmented reality content,virtual reality content, SN objects (e.g., content channels,subchannels, etc.), and/or any other suitable types of content. Thecontent can be original content (e.g., entirely generated by the user),derivatory content (e.g., partially generated by the user, based on aprior piece of content, etc.), and/or have any other suitable source.The content preferably includes content metadata, which can include:associated identifiers (e.g., user account identifiers identifying useraccounts that created and/or modified the content, and/or are otherwiseassociated with the content; parent data object identifiers; channelidentifiers identifying content channels to which the content is posted,and/or content channels that are otherwise associated with the content;local identifiers such as avatars and/or usernames for user accounts;etc.), structural metadata (e.g., indicating parent-child relationshipsand/or other relationships between the content and other data objects;etc.), title, author, tags, keywords, subject, references (e.g.,self-referential hyperlinks; hyperlinks to data objects associated withthe content; references to the source content from which the content isderived; etc.), permissions (e.g., content permissions; channelpermissions for associated content channels; moderator abilities forregulating the content and/or associated content channels), temporalindicators (e.g., timestamps associated with generation of, receipt of,and/or posting of content; etc.), secondary modifications to content(e.g., change an avatar to have a gold outline; enable looping for anavatar video, etc.), and/or any other suitable metadata. However,content can include any suitable components.

Content is preferably updated by content updates (e.g., media updates),which function to modify content. Content updates preferably include thedata required to update the content from a first state (e.g., originalstate) to a second state (e.g., modified state), such as data indicatingthe differences between the first and second states (e.g., as opposed todata coding for the entirety of the content in the second state). In afirst example, the content can include content metadata represented in aset of metadata key-value pairs (e.g., where the key indicates the typeof metadata and the value indicates corresponding metadata values,etc.), and the content update can include an update to a metadatakey-value pair of the set (e.g., stored by the SN client 120 at a localchannel). In a second example, the content update can include pixelpositions and corresponding updated pixel values for updating a subsetof pixels for an image. In a third example, the content update caninclude a single content piece (e.g., a user-generated video) that canbe transmitted to identified SN clients 120 (e.g., subscribed to acontent channel for which the content piece is uploaded, etc.) forupdating a locally stored channel at the user device, rather than havingto transmit a set of historical content pieces posted to the contentchannel when an SN client 120 accesses the content channel. In a fourthexample, the content update can include an update to a local identifier(e.g., stored at a user device). However, the content updates caninclude any suitable content and/or updates in any suitable state.

Data objects preferably include content channels (e.g., media channels),which function to organize and/or track content. The content channelscan include parent channels, child channels (e.g., sub-channels), and/orany other suitable hierarchical channel organization. In an example, theSN system 110 can create a sub-channel of a user account (e.g.,“user1/channel1”, where the user can control permissions and/orotherwise manage the channel), where the sub-channel can share anidentifier (e.g., local identifier) with a global channel (e.g.,“#channel1”). However, content channels can be associated with anysuitable components. Content channels are preferably identified bychannel identifiers (e.g., global, local, etc.) stored by the SN system110, but can be identified by any suitable identifiers stored by anysuitable component.

Each content channel can be associated with a set of channel parameters,where the channel parameters can specify the content channel's: useraccount permissions (e.g., who can join, view, comment, etc.), visualpresentation, content organization (e.g., time-series, randomized,etc.), content sharing (e.g., to other content channels, from othercontent channels), subject matter permissions, content type permissions,automated software (e.g., bots), parameter editing permissions (e.g.,moderator), associated user accounts (e.g., members), associated contentchannels (e.g., parent channels, child channels, community channels,etc.), and/or any other suitable aspects. The channel parameters can beshared across multiple channels (e.g., global), specific to the contentchannel, or otherwise shared. In a first example, a first contentchannel can be private, where only user accounts on the membership listcan view and/or edit the content channel. In this example, contentposted to the content channel is preferably not transmitted to secondarychannels. Channel permissions can include a content-specific permissionlevel (e.g., permitting content within a certain date range to beviewable, permitting selected content to be viewable, etc.), where thecontent-specific permission levels can be global, can vary per useraccount (e.g., channel members can only view content generated sincethey joined; new channel members cannot view old content, generatedbefore they joined, that mentions them or any connections within apredetermined degree of removal; etc.). In a second example, the contentchannel can include a set of rules for content use as virtual currency,where the rules can specify the types of content (e.g., gifs, audiomedia stream, visual media stream etc.) that can be used as currency,price for purchasing the content, and/or any other suitable set ofrules. However, channel parameters can be configured in any suitablemanner.

Data objects preferably include user accounts, which function toorganize identities for serving personalized content. Each user accountis preferably associated with one or more identities (e.g., users,individuals, businesses, etc.). Each identity can be shared by multipleaccounts, be associated with a single account, be associated withaccounts sharing a common parameter value (e.g., location within apredetermined geofence, common preferences, etc.), and/or be associatedwith any suitable number of accounts. For example, an identityassociated with a café can be shared by multiple barista accounts, whereeach barista account is associated with a single barista. Each identitycan be identified by a local and global identifier, by a globalidentifier only, by a local identifier only, and/or by any othersuitable identifier.

In a first variation, a user account can be associated with a set ofpermissions (e.g., controlled by an identity owner, etc.). Upon accessto the user account (e.g., upon login to the user account), a user canaccess all of the associated identities, a portion of the associatedidentities, and/or any other suitable subset of the identities. In asecond variation, user accounts can be associated with identifiers. Forexample, user account identifiers are preferably associated with channelidentifiers identifying content channels to which the corresponding useraccounts are subscribed. In a third variation, user accounts can beassociated with account parameters (e.g., indicative of user interests).The account parameters can be automatically determined from: useractions (e.g., selected content channels, content generation frequency,content generation times, etc.), content associated with the useraccount (e.g., content generated by the user account, responded to bythe user account, shared by the user account, remixed by the useraccount, etc.), user accounts associated with content channelsassociated with the user account, user device location (e.g., current,historic, etc.; as determined by the SN client), user device proximityto secondary user devices (e.g., as determined through device-to-deviceconnections via short-range communication protocols, such as BLE,through third-party analysis, such as through the devices' GPSlocations, etc.), and/or from any other suitable information. However,user accounts and corresponding user account identifiers can beassociated with any suitable data (e.g., content identifiers identifyingcontent posted by the user account).

The SN system 110 can store: content generated by each user account,user login information (e.g., concurrently conferring access to one ormore user accounts), user account preferences, user account links orassociations, content relevance module(s) 122 for a user account, and/orany other suitable information for the user account. All or a portion ofthe user account information can be permanently stored, temporarilystored (e.g., selectively deleted as a function of a predeterminedparameter), and/or stored for any other suitable duration. However, useraccounts can be configured in any suitable manner.

The SN system 110 can additionally or alternatively include asubscription fulfillment module 114, which can function to processsubscription requests to content channels. In a first variation (e.g., acentralized SN system variation), the subscription fulfillment module114 can process subscription requests received by the SN system 110 forthe set of content channels managed by the SN system 110. In a secondvariation (e.g., a distributed SN system variation), the subscriptionfulfillment module 114 can include a set of subscription fulfillmentsubmodules, each configured to process subscription requests fordifferent subsets of content channels (e.g., where a channel node from aset of channel nodes can include a subscription fulfillment submoduleconfigured to process a subset of content channels managed by thechannel node; etc.). However, functionality associated with thesubscription fulfillment module 114 can be otherwise distributed acrosscomponents (e.g., SN clients 120) of the system 100.

The subscription fulfillment module 114 preferably transmits asubscription confirmation to the requesting user account (e.g., inresponse to receiving the subscription request), but can transmit asubscription confirmation to any suitable entity (e.g., a user accountthat created the content channel, a user account that is administeringthe content channel, etc.). The subscription confirmation can include:content (e.g., historical content posted to the content channel),content identifiers (e.g., an update identifier), data objectsassociated with the content channel (e.g., a set of user accountidentifiers identifying user accounts subscribed to the contentchannel), temporal indicators (e.g., timestamps associated with thesubscription request and/or confirmation), and/or any other suitabledata. In a first example, the subscription fulfillment module 114 can beconfigured to associate a content update with an update identifierassociated with a set of historic update identifiers identifying a setof historic content updates for a content channel; receive asubscription request to the content channel from an SN client; andtransmit the update identifier (e.g., in a subscription confirmation) tothe SN client 120 in response to receiving the subscription request,where the SN client 120 is configured to receive a set of content basedon the update identifier, the set of content generated from the contentupdate, and the set of historic content updates. In a second example,the update identifier can be in a sequence (e.g., numeric sequence,character sequence, alphanumeric sequence, etc.) with the set ofhistoric update identifiers (e.g., where the update identifieridentifies the most current update and sequentially follows the set ofhistoric update identifiers), where the SN client 120 is configured toreceive the set of content based on the update identifier and thesequence (e.g., where the SN client 120 receives the update identifierand retrieves the set of content based on querying the channel database130 with the update identifier, and where the channel database 130 canstore the sequence of update identifiers and associated content updates;etc.). In a third example, the SN system 110 and/or SN client 120 canevaluate content relevance of the set of content prior to contenttransmission (e.g., when the content relevance satisfies a thresholdcondition) associated with a subscription request. Additionally oralternatively, the subscription fulfillment module 114 can be configuredin any suitable manner. However, the SN system 110 can be configured inany suitable manner.

The SN client 120 functions to operate on a user device to process andpresent content for users. The SN client can be an application (e.g.,native application, web application, mobile application, etc.),operating system, browser, and/or any other suitable type of portal. TheSN client 120 preferably communicates with the SN system 110 tofacilitate content sharing. In a first variation, the SN client 120 cantransmit content (e.g., content updates) and/or other suitable dataobjects to the SN system 110. In a specific example, the SN client 120can be configured to receive content from a user account (e.g., an inputat an entry field associated with a content channel), process thecontent (e.g., associate the content with identifiers such as a useraccount identifier identifying the user account that generated thecontent; associate with parent identifiers; etc.), and transmit thecontent to the SN system 110. In a second variation, the SN client 120can receive content and/or other suitable data objects from the SN. Forexample, the SN client 120 can be configured to receive content updates,from the SN system 110, for content channels to which user accountsassociated with the SN client 120 are subscribed. Additionally oralternatively, the SN client 120 can communicate with any suitablecomponents of the system 100 for any suitable purpose.

A SN client 120 running on the user device preferably resolves theglobal identifier into one or more local identifiers, such that eachdata object is identified locally by their preferred name (e.g.,handle). For example, the SN client 120 can be configured to receivecontent with a global user account identifier; map the global useraccount identifier to a local user account identifier (e.g., stored atthe user device); and present the local use account identifier with thecontent at the user device. Disambiguations can be handled automatically(e.g., based on a set of predetermined rules), selected by the useraccount, selected by the client, or otherwise handled. In a specificexample, the client can automatically append an alphanumeric sequence(e.g., number, greek letter, etc.) to the end of collided names,starting at the second person of the same name encountered (e.g., wherepreference is given temporally). In a second specific example, theclient can automatically assign a preference to each secondary useraccount (and/or identity) based on: the frequency of interaction betweenthe user account (and/or identity) and secondary user account, whetherthe secondary user's name appears within the user account's contactlist, or based on any other suitable parameter. Additionally oralternatively, the SN client 120 can resolve one or more localidentifiers into a global identifier (e.g., based on a combination oflocal identifiers, metadata associated with the local identifiers,etc.). However, the SN client 120 can be configured to resolveidentifiers in any suitable manner.

Additionally or alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3, the SN client 120 caninclude a content relevance module 122, which can function to determinecontent relevance of content to user accounts associated with the SNclient 120 (e.g., where the content relevance can determine if and howthe content is presented to the user accounts), and/or can function forany suitable purpose. Content relevance modules 122 can be customized ona global basis, channel basis (e.g., a first content relevance modulefor content channels related to animals, and a second content relevancemodule for content channels related to food, etc.), user account basis,other data object basis, and/or any suitable basis. For example, thecontent relevance module 122 can be customized for a user account andconfigured to execute on the user device to determine a contentrelevance of a content update to the user account in response toreceiving the media update, and where the SN client 120 is configured topresent the content update to the user account (e.g., updating a localchannel stored at the user device with the content update) in responseto the content relevance satisfying a threshold condition. In a specificexample, the content relevance module 122 can be configured to obtain aset of computer-implemented rules (e.g., stored at the user device) anddefining the content relevance as a function of a user device parameter(e.g., location, device type, operating system, sensor measurements,etc.); obtain (e.g., locally obtain) the user device parameter from theuser device; and execute (e.g., on the user device) to determine thecontent relevance by evaluating the user device parameter against theset of computer-implemented rules. Additionally or alternatively,computer-implemented rules can be leveraged for any suitable purpose(e.g., fulfilling subscription requests; facilitating data redundancy;distributing functionality across the network, such as distributingchannel identifiers across nodes 116; etc.). In variations, the contentrelevance module 122 can additionally or alternatively be stored andexecuted at the SN system 110. However, the content relevance module 122can be configured in any suitable manner.

The SN client 120 can additionally or alternatively include asubscription request module, which functions to collect subscriptionrequests from user accounts and to transmit the subscription requests tothe SN system 110 (e.g., an appropriate SN system node 116 including asubscription fulfillment module 114 for the content channel to which thesubscription request is directed, etc.). The subscription request modulecan transmit subscription requests to the SN system 110 in real-time, inbatch (e.g., in a multiplex manner), and/or at any suitable time andfrequency. For example, the SN client 120 can be configured to receive aset of subscription requests from the user account for a set of contentchannels corresponding to a first set of channel identifiers stored at achannel node of the SN system 110 and a second set of channelidentifiers stored at a supplemental channel node of the SN system 110;group a subset of the set of subscription requests into an aggregaterequest based on the first set of channel identifier; and transmit theaggregate request to the channel node. However, the SN client 120 can beconfigured in any suitable manner.

The system 100 can include a distributed SN (e.g., pseudo-distributed,fully-distributed), including distributed functionality across the SNsystem 110, SN clients 120, and/or other suitable components in anysuitable manner. In a first variation, the system 100 can include apseudo-distributed SN including a plurality of SN clients 120 connectedto one or more nodes 116 (e.g., different remote computing systems) ofthe SN system 110. The nodes 116 can function as repositories and/ortrackers for the data objects. Nodes 116 preferably include channelnodes configured to manage a subset of content channels from a set ofcontent channels included in the SN system 110. In a first example,channel nodes 116 can store a subset of distributed channel identifiersidentifying content channels managed by the respective channel node,where the channel node can store associated user account identifiers,content identifiers (e.g., an update identifying the most currentcontent update, etc.), and/or any other suitable data object. In asecond example, each channel node can include a different subscriptionfulfillment submodule configured to fulfill subscription requests forcontent channels managed by the channel node. In a third example, eachchannel node can be configured to receive a content update for a contentchannel, process the content update (e.g., associate identifiers,evaluate content relevance, etc.), and transmit the content update touser accounts identified by user account identifiers stored by thechannel node in association with the content channel. As such, a node116 can act as a repository for a given amount of content channelsand/or metadata (e.g., where a given content channel is handled by asingle node), enabling the number of content channels and/or metadata tobe increased by increasing the number of nodes 116 (e.g., therebyimproving scalability of the SN system 110). Additionally oralternatively, the SN system 110 can include any suitable types of nodes116 (e.g., content relevance nodes where content relevance functionalityis distributed across the nodes; subscription fulfillment nodes; etc.).

In examples, nodes 116 can retrieve channel content and/or associatedmetadata by using a key/value paradigm. Under the key/value paradigm,channel content can be retrieved in batches. In an example, for a givenkey, a single piece of content can be retrieved (e.g., the content withthe highest sequence number based on timestamp), where channel updatespaired with a key can be aggregated into a single update in the channelhistory. In a specific example, a channel node can transmit asubscription confirmation with a sequence number to an SN client 120(e.g., an SN client 120 that transmitted a subscription request to thenode), the subscription confirmation including data usable to collectcontent associated with the channel up to but not including the sequencenumber (e.g., where the subscription confirmation includes the content;where the subscription confirmation includes an update identifier thatcan be used by the SN client 120 to retrieve the content from a channeldatabase 130, etc.).

SN clients 120 can store and update local channels (e.g., correspondingto channels managed by the nodes 116) at user devices. Local channelscan function as a locally stored repository for data objects (e.g.,content, local identifiers, data objects shared across the localchannels and the content channels to enable data redundancy, etc.)associated with content channels to enable network efficiency (e.g., inrelation to content updates transmitted across the pseudo-distributedSN), personalization (e.g., with local identifiers), and/or othersuitable features. SN clients 120 can download the latest version of thecontent channel (e.g., parent channel version), update the contentchannel by posting new content to the conversation stream, and send thenew content to the node. In an example, SN clients 120 can act ascouriers for transmitting messages (e.g., subscribing or unsubscribingto a content channel, posting to a content channel, multiplexingmultiple subscriptions to a content channel, etc.) and receivingmessages (e.g., subscription confirmations, event updates, etc.) fromone or more nodes 116 (e.g., which act as a central repository for oneor more content channels and/or metadata). In this example, statechanges for the client can be in response to receiving messages fromnodes 116. In a first specific example, the SN client 120 can beconfigured to store a local channel at a user device associated with auser account; store an association at the user device between the localchannel, the content channel (e.g., channel identifier) corresponding tothe local channel, and a channel node (e.g., managing the contentchannel); receive content for the content channel from the user account;update the local channel with the content; select the channel node fromthe set of channel nodes to receive the content update, based on theassociation; and transmit the content update to the channel node (e.g.,in response to updating the local channel). In a second specificexample, the SN client 120 can be configured to receive a content updatefor a content channel from the channel node; and update a local channel(e.g., corresponding to the content channel) with the content update.Content updates can additionally or alternatively include a reference tothe parent channel version, where the node 116 selectively merges thenew content into the content channel based on the parent channelversion. For example, the node 116 can merge a first piece of content,referencing a first parent channel version, into the content channel ata point temporally preceding a second piece of content that references asecond parent channel version after the first parent channel version.The SN clients 120 preferably store and manage (e.g., add, remove, etc.)the lists of secondary clients (or user accounts) associated with eachclient (or user account), the content relevance modules 122 for eachuser account, and/or any other suitable information specific to the useraccount, but other components (e.g., nodes 116) can alternatively oradditionally store the user account information. However, thepseudo-distributed SN system can be configured in any suitable manner(e.g., with nodes 116 having analogous functionality to the fullydistributed SN system, centralized SN system, the SN system 110generally, and/or other components of the system 100) for any suitablepurpose (e.g., distribution of functionality in relation to contextualpockets, object features, extensions, applications, other datastructures, etc.).

In a second variation, the SN can include a fully distributed SN, formedfrom a plurality of networked SN clients 120. Using a distributed systemcan add an additional layer of data security (e.g., where users must bepart of the client cluster to access content), add redundancy (e.g.,where each client can locally store a version of the content channel),or confer other benefits. The clients are preferably individualinstances of the social networking system application, each running on adifferent user device. All of the social networking system data (e.g.,content, content relevance modules 122, user account associations,content channels, etc.) can be stored across the client plurality (e.g.,user device population). For example, SN clients (e.g., primary clients)can access the data stored by other SN clients (e.g., secondary clients)when the primary client (or user account logged in through the primaryclient) is associated with the secondary client, where the primaryclient stores the list of associated secondary clients. In operation,when a user uses the primary client to post new content within a contentchannel (e.g., locally saved by the primary client), the client can sendthe new content to secondary clients within the list. The new contentcan be globally identified by a globally unique identifier (e.g., hash),and additionally include a reference to the global identifier for thechannel version that the user modified (e.g., parent channelidentifier). The secondary clients can receive the new content,determine the new content's relevance to their respective users, andselectively present the new content in a content channel.

In a first example, a secondary client can receive the new content,determine that the second user account (e.g., hosted by the secondaryclient) is viewing a version of the same channel, and merge the newcontent into the local version of the content channel based on theparent channel identifier. The process can be reciprocated when thesecond user account responds to the previously-new content. In a secondexample, a secondary client can receive the new content, run the newcontent through a content relevance module 122 tailored to the seconduser account (e.g., locally stored on the secondary client), and, inresponse to determination that the new content is relevant to the seconduser account, select a portion of the new content and merge the selectedportion into a local version of a second channel currently engaging thesecond user account. The selected portion can additionally oralternatively be a hyperlink to the source channel. In response toselection of the hyperlink, the secondary client can automaticallyretrieve content for the source channel from the source client and/orother clients associated with the content channel (e.g., where the otherclients are received from the source client). The secondary client canadditionally add the source client and/or other clients (or respectiveuser accounts) associated with the content channel to the local list ofassociated clients or user accounts. In a third example, a secondaryclient can receive a key (e.g., a singleton message with some metadata,including a link to the source channel) from a first user account. Thekey can enable the secondary user account on the secondary client accessto join a private group (e.g., the same or different channel from thesource channel), confer write access to a big public channel to the useraccount and/or identity, or give the user account and/or identity anyother suitable set of permissions. However, the fully distributed SNsystem can be structured and operated in any other suitable manner.

In a third variation, the system 100 can include a centralized SN, whereall information can be stored by a remote SN system 110 (e.g., remotecomputing system) including one or more networked servers. However, anysuitable functionality (e.g., described in relation to any components)can be distributed across the components of the system 100 in anysuitable manner.

As shown in FIGURE, 2B, the system 100 can additionally or alternativelyinclude a channel database 130, which functions to store data objectsretrievable by the components of the system 100. The channel database130 is preferably configured to wirelessly communicate with the SNsystem 110 (e.g., to store and update channels, associated content,associated identifiers, etc.), but can additionally or alternativelycommunicate with SN clients 120 (e.g., to receive and store localidentifiers, etc.) and/or any other suitable components. In an example,the system 100 can include a remote channel database 130 storing aglobal channel corresponding to a content channel (e.g., a currentversion of the content channel) and including content (e.g., media,content metadata, etc.), where the SN system 110 (e.g., a channel nodemanaging the content channel) is configured to update the global channelat the remote channel database 130 with a content update in response toreceiving the content update, and to transmit the content update to auser account in response to updating the global channel. The remotechannel database 130 can store the global channels for all channels, asubset of the channels within the system, or store global channels forany suitable set of channels. The remote channel database 130 caninclude one or more remote computing systems (e.g., servers), whereinmultiple remote computing systems can store redundant or non-redundantdata. The global channels can function as a source of truth (e.g., forconflict resolution), as channel node backup, store conflicting versionsof the same channel, or function in any other suitable manner. However,the channel database 130 can be configured in any suitable manner.

The system 100 can optionally include object features, which canfunction to confer a characteristic (e.g., a predefined functionality)upon data objects. An object feature can be associated with a dataobject by placing the object feature in the data object's contextualpocket, by linking the data object with the object feature, by placingthe object feature within the data object (e.g., as content within acontent channel), or otherwise associating the object feature with thedata object. Object features can include: a predetermined block of code,an icon or token associated with a channel characteristic, and/or haveany other suitable form factor. Characteristics conferred or controlledby the object feature can include: formatting, permissions, useractions, channel actions, or any other suitable channel characteristic.In a first example, the formatting feature can randomly reorder thecontent within the content channel. In a second example, the objectfeature can be a .gif filter that applies a predetermined filter to a.gif (e.g., any .gifs posted by a user account). In a third example, theobject feature can function as a security key, where only user accountswith the object feature can see content secured by the object feature.However, the object feature can have any other suitable characteristic.

The object features can be made by and/or distributed by user accountsand/or any suitable entity. The object features can be obtained by useraccounts through a marketplace, by copying the object feature from afeature source (e.g., another content channel, etc.), and/or otherwiseobtained. In one variation, different object features can have differentcopying permissions. For example, a first object feature can haverestricted copying permissions, such that the SN includes a limitednumber of the first object feature, while a second object feature canhave unrestricted copying permissions, such that user accounts can makeunlimited copies of the second object feature. The object featuresassociated with a data object can be executed at any suitable frequency(e.g., continuously) and time. The object feature can affect the dataobject's parameters for all user accounts, for a subset of useraccounts, or for any other suitable set of user accounts. Conflictsbetween object features associated with a common data object can beresolved based on time (e.g., last object feature takes priority), userpreference, community popularity, or otherwise resolved. However, theobject features can have any other suitable set of parameters and beused in any other suitable manner.

As shown in FIG. 8, the system 100 can additionally or alternativelyinclude contextual pockets (e.g., included in and/or otherwiseassociated with content channels), which function to personalize and/oradd functionality to a content channel. Contextual pockets can includeany suitable data objects (e.g., subchannels, content distinct from theparent channel, games associated with subscription to the contentchannel, applications, permissions, etc.). However, contextual pocketscan be configured in any suitable manner.

4. Method

As shown in FIGS. 1A-1C, embodiments of a method 200 for sharing contentacross a social network can include: receiving content for a contentchannel S210; assigning a content identifier to the content S220;transmitting the content with the content identifier to a user accountS230; and modifying the content channel with the content based on thecontent identifier S240. Additionally or alternatively, embodiments ofthe method 200 can include distributing a set of identifiers across aset of nodes S250; generating a content channel S260; determiningcontent relevance S270; and/or any other suitable processes.

Receiving content (e.g., media; content updates; etc.) for a contentchannel S210 functions to receive content for dissemination to secondaryuser accounts (e.g., user accounts subscribed to the content channel).The content is preferably received in association with a parent dataobject, but can alternatively be received in isolation. The content canbe generated based on the parent data object (e.g., an action performedon the parent data object); however, the parent data object can beotherwise associated with the content. In one example, the content is apost within a content channel, where the content is associated with thecontent channel. In a second example, the content is a reply to aspecific piece of prior content (e.g., the user selected prior contentto respond to), where the content is associated with the specific pieceof prior content. In a third example, as shown in FIG. 10, the contentis a modified version of a piece of content, where the content isassociated with the source content. In a specific example, the method200 can include receiving a user input (e.g., textual input at an entryfield, a pre-defined command) including a first and a second channelidentifier; retrieving first and second content (e.g., content updates)based on the first and the second channel identifiers (e.g., the firstcontent update posted to the first channel; the second content updateposted to the second channel; etc.); and generating third content (e.g.,a third content update) based on the user input and the first and thesecond content updates, where the third content can be subsequentlyprocessed (e.g., assigned a content identifier; transmitted to secondaryuser accounts; etc.). In an illustrative example, receiving“/pdf(#user/book/chp1, #user/book/chp2) can generate a .pdf from thecontent in “chapter 1” and “chapter 2” subchannels of the #user/bookchannel, where .pdf is the user input and the subchannel references arethe content identifiers. Additionally or alternatively, any othersuitable data object can be associated with the content in any othersuitable manner. However, receiving content can be performed in anysuitable manner.

Assigning a content identifier (e.g., update identifier) to the content(e.g., content update) S220 functions to identify content. Theidentifier is preferably an alphanumeric value (e.g., a 128-bit value),but can alternatively be an image, stream of values (e.g., a patternover time), and/or have any other suitable structure. Examples ofidentifiers include hash values (e.g., digest), timestamps, randomnumbers, namespaces, URIs, or any other suitable identifier. Forexample, the method 200 can include modifying (e.g., at the SN system) acontent update for a content channel with a channel hyperlink linking tothe channel based on the channel identifier; and transmitting thecontent update (e.g., including the hyperlink) to user accountsassociated with the channel.

The identifier is preferably a global identifier but can alternativelybe a local identifier. The identifier can be generated and assignedindependent of the content (e.g., randomly generated and assigned),generated and assigned based on the content or a property thereof, orotherwise determined and/or assigned. The identifier for a piece ofcontent can be generated based on: the content itself (e.g., based onthe bits forming the content), the content timestamp, the authoring useraccount identifier, the authoring SN client identifier, the geographiclocation associated with the content (e.g., the user device location atcontent receipt or generation, etc.), the identifier for the parent dataobject, the content version, a second global identifier for the content,and/or based on any other suitable parameter value. In a first example,a hash value can be generated from the global identifier for the content(e.g., automatically assigned based on the content itself) and thecontent version. In a second example, the method 200 can includereceiving a content update for a first channel at a first channel node(e.g., where the content update is generated based on a precedingcontent update); assigning a global content identifier (e.g.,identifying the preceding content update) to the content update as aparent identifier; assigning a second global content identifier to thecontent update; and transmitting the content update with the parentidentifier and the second global content identifier to a user accountassociated with the content channel. The global and/or local identifiercan be generated based on and/or encode the generation timestamp, thecontent itself, the user identifier, the associated geographic location,and/or any other suitable information. However, any suitable number ofidentifiers (e.g., global identifiers; local identifiers; dependent orindependent identifiers; identifiers of other types of data objects;etc.) can be assigned to the content, and assigning identifiers tocontent and/or other data objects can be performed in any suitablemanner.

As shown in FIG. 1C, transmitting the content with the contentidentifier to a user account (e.g., through posting to a contentchannel) S230 functions to disseminate the content to a user account.The content is preferably transmitted from the SN system to a set of SNclients subscribed to the channel to which the content is directed, butany suitable components can receive and/or transmit the content. Invariations, as shown in FIG. 4, the method 200 can additionally includesending a packet associated with the content to an endpoint. The packetcan be sent concurrently with content posting or receipt, sentasynchronously (e.g., after content receipt), packaged with otherpackages and sent at a predetermined frequency, or be sent at any othersuitable time. The packet can include the content, an identifier for thecontent (e.g., a URI generated from the global identifier), the updatedversion of the content channel, an identifier for the updated channel,content features, and/or any other suitable information derived from thecontent to secondary clients or user accounts (e.g., secondary clientsthat are online), a remote computing system, or any other suitableendpoint. When sending the information to secondary clients or useraccounts, the content-derived information can be broadcast by theprimary client, pushed to secondary clients and/or user accounts, sentto secondary clients and/or user accounts in response to receipt of arequest for new content from the secondary clients and/or user accounts,or otherwise sent to the secondary clients and/or user accounts. In onevariation, the secondary client can receive the content only when boththe primary client (e.g., the SN client 120 posting the content) andsecondary clients are concurrently online when the content is posted. Ina second variation, the secondary client can receive the contentasynchronously, where a remote computing system caches the content untilthe secondary client connects to the remote computing system). In athird variation, the secondary client can receive the contentasynchronously, where the secondary client receives the content throughan intermediary client supporting an intermediary user account that boththe first and second user accounts are associated with. Additionally oralternatively the secondary client can otherwise receive the content,and transmitting content can be performed in any suitable manner.

Modifying (e.g., updating) a content channel with the content S240functions to present the content within the content channel to the useraccount. Modifying the content channel can notify the user ofpotentially relevant content in a lightweight manner that minimizes orreduces the number of actions required to view the content in the sourcechannel. Modifying the content channel can include modifying a contentchannel different from the source channel (e.g., separate and discrete,having different global identifiers, different local identifiers, etc.),but can alternatively be the same content channel, the same channelversion (e.g., as shown in FIG. 4), different versions of the samechannel, and/or be any other suitable content channel. Modifying thecontent channel is preferably based on a content identifier and/or otherdata object identifier associated with the content. In a first example,the content inserted into the content channel can link and/or otherwisereference source data based on a global identifier for the content(e.g., be a URL with the global identifier) and associated parentidentifiers (e.g., as shown in FIG. 6), but can alternatively beinserted in any other suitable manner based on any other suitableparameter. In a second example, content can be presented with a useraccount identifier (e.g., global, local, etc.) identifying the useraccount posting the content. However, modifying content channels can bebased on any suitable data.

The content is preferably posted to the local version of the contentchannel stored by the client (e.g., wherein different users and/orclients can store and/or present different versions of the same channel,with different organization, skins, content, etc.), but canalternatively be posted to the global version of the content channelstored across multiple clients, stored by the remote computing system,and/or stored by any other suitable system. The content is preferablyinserted in response to the content relevance meeting a predeterminedcondition (e.g., surpassing a predetermined threshold), but can beposted in response to any other suitable condition being met. Thepredetermined condition can vary as a function of time (e.g., time ofday), geographic location, virtual location (e.g., location in a virtualspace), second user account schedule, second user account activity(e.g., frequency), channel activity, or any other suitable parameter.The predetermined condition can be determined for a specific useraccount, identity, content channel, or other data structure; a set ofuser accounts, identities, content channels, or other data structures;or for any other suitable number of user account, identities, contentchannels, or other data structures related in any suitable manner. Forexample, the predetermined condition can be a post rate of less than athreshold number per minute, where the threshold can be selected toindicate heavy engagement, such as heated debate (e.g., above thethreshold) or casual browsing (e.g., below the threshold), where thecontent is inserted in response to the rate falling below the threshold.However, the predetermined condition can be any otherwise selected.Additionally or alternatively, content can be inserted in response toany other suitable condition being met. In a variation, posting contentto a content channel can be in response to selection by a second user ofa content discovery option. The content discovery option can initiateone or more of: random content discovery (e.g., posting content from arandom channel to the content channel, directing the second user to arandom channel, etc.), directed content discovery (e.g., based on userpreferences, user behavior patterns such as channel visiting frequency,channel metrics such as popularity, etc.), parameter-based discovery(e.g., inserting content from a second channel associated with a nearbygeographic location into a first channel; inserting content from asecond channel associated with a nearby user into a first channel,etc.), and/or any other suitable discovery based on any other suitablevariable. Additionally or alternatively, content discovery can beinitiated without selection of a random content option. However, contentdiscovery can be otherwise performed.

Automatically-inserted content from other content channels arepreferably distinguished over user-generated content posted within thecontent channel, but can alternatively be indistinguishable.Automatically-inserted content can be distinguished: visually (e.g.,using a different typeface, weight, color, etc.; using an outline orborder; using an icon; using different size frames; etc.), audibly(e.g., decreased volume compared to user-generated content), orotherwise distinguished. The automatically-inserted content can decay ata different rate than user-posted content (e.g., disappear faster thanuser-posted content from the content channel), at the same rate, or beassociated with any other suitable set of parameters andcharacteristics. The inserted content can be inserted into and/orlocated within the channel and/or content stream based on: generationtime (e.g., in time-series order relative to the remaining contentwithin the channel), relevance score, or based on any other suitableparameter.

Modifying the content channel with the content can optionally includegenerating a snippet from the content, and posting the snippet (e.g., inlieu of the full content). The snippet can be: a thumbnail, a quote fromthe content, a summary of the content, a clip of the content (e.g., asubset of the audio-video frames), or any other suitable secondarycontent representative of the original content. The snippet can beautomatically generated, selected by the authoring user, or otherwisedetermined. The snippet can be generated by the primary client,secondary client, SN system, or any other suitable system. The snippetcan be generated based on secondary user account preferences (e.g.,manually entered, automatically learned, etc.), the content channel'srules, or based on any other suitable input. In one variation, becausethe snippets are generated by content relevance modules tailored to therespective user account, the snippet generated for the same piece ofcontent sent to multiple user accounts can be different.

The method 200 can additionally or alternatively include distributing aset of identifiers across a set of nodes S250, which functions to enableinventive distributions of functionality across the SN (e.g., invariations including a distributed SN). Distributing identifiers can bebased on: static sharding, consistent hashing, dynamic sharding, rangemapping, and/or any other suitable data allocation approaches. In afirst variation, distributing identifiers can include distributingchannel management (e.g., through distributing channel identifiers)across a set of nodes (e.g., each node is responsible for a subset ofchannels, such as 1/N channels for N nodes). In other variations,distributing identifiers can include distributing user accountmanagement, content management, and/or other data object managementacross the set of nodes. However, distributing identifiers across thenodes can be performed in any suitable manner.

The method 200 can additionally or alternatively include generating acontent channel S260, which functions to create channels for contentsharing. Generating content channels preferably includes generating anysuitable data objects associated with the channel (e.g., globalidentifiers, default permissions, metadata, etc.), storing the dataobjects (e.g., local versions at user devices; global versions at thechannel database; etc.), and/or otherwise processing data objects forcontent channel creation. Generating content channels can be based on:channel creation requests (e.g., including a channel identifier selectedby the user account; etc.), content (e.g., generating a channel based onan image, where the channel identifier is associated with the contentidentifier identifying the image), other channels (e.g., parentchannels), and/or any other suitable data objects. For example, themethod 200 can include generating a second channel based on a firstcontent update for a first channel; assigning a second channelidentifier to the second channel; associating the second channelidentifier with a first channel identifier (e.g., identifying the firstchannel) and a content identifier (e.g., identifying the contentupdate); and distributing the second channel identifier to a channelnode of the set of remote channel nodes. Generating content channels ispreferably in response to receiving channel creation requests from useraccounts. For example, the method 200 can include: generating (e.g.,with an SN client) a local channel at a user device in response toreceiving a channel creation request for a channel from a user accountassociated with the user device; transmitting the channel creationrequest to the SN system (e.g., a node of the SN system with availablefunctionality to manage the channel); and generating and storing aglobal channel corresponding to the channel at the channel database.However, generating content channels can be performed in any suitablemanner.

The method 200 can additionally or alternatively include determiningcontent relevance S270, which functions to determine whether the contentshould be provided to a user account. The content relevance can bedetermined based on the association strength between a primary useraccount (e.g., posting the content) and secondary user account (e.g.,potentially receiving the content), physical proximity between theprimary and secondary user devices executing the primary and secondaryclients, the content's relevance to the user account, the associationstrength between the user account and the channel, a rarity score of thecontent for the channel, the content association with the a channelhistorically visited (e.g., most recently visited, most frequentlyvisited, etc.) by a user account, metadata (e.g., temporal indicators;structural metadata indicating associations between parent and childdata objects; avatars; identifiers; location metadata; etc.) the useraccount's current identity, and/or any other suitable factor. Forexample, the method 200 can include determining a content relevancebased on a child identifier (e.g., a content identifier), a parentidentifier (e.g., a source content identifier), and associated locationmetadata (e.g., for the content identified by the content identifier andsource content identified by the source content identifier, etc.).

The association strength between the primary and secondary user accountcan be determined based on the type of user account association, thefrequency of digital interaction (e.g., across one or more channels),the frequency of physical interaction (e.g., based on the respectiveuser devices' location histories), the number of shared user accountcontacts (e.g., based on the secondary user account's social graph),degrees of removal, or based on any other suitable parameter (e.g.,extracted from network analysis of real-time chat and/or physicalsignal-strength signals). In one example, an explicit connection betweenuser accounts (e.g., friends, mutual presence in favorites' lists, etc.)can be deemed a stronger association than user accounts associated asconcurrent nonparticipating viewers of the same channel; content from auser account linked to the secondary user account through the formerassociation can be deemed more relevant (e.g., weighted higher) thancontent from a user account linked to the secondary user account throughthe latter association.

The physical proximity between the first and second user device can bedetermined based on the respective user device locations (e.g., GPSlocations, cell tower locations, etc.), whether the user devices arewirelessly connected (e.g., through a short-range connection, such asBLE), the physical density of a user device population (e.g., how tightor sparse a group is physically), or be based on any other suitableparameter. The content relevance to the secondary user account can bedetermined based on the user account preferences (e.g., manually enteredor automatically generated based on user account activity) and thecontent's subject matter, content type (e.g., image, etc.), contenttimestamp, or any other suitable parameter. However, the contentrelevance can be otherwise determined. The content's subject matter canbe determined through natural language processing, image analysis (e.g.,facial recognition, gesture recognition, expression recognition, etc.),or any other suitable approach. For example, when a user account has ahigh preference score for dogs, content mentioning dogs or includingimages of dogs can be weighted higher than content without dogs.

The association strength between the secondary user account and thecontent channel can be determined based on the secondary user account'srelationship with the content channel (e.g., member of the channel,commenter of the channel, channel viewer, never viewed the channel,etc.), secondary user account's participation history with the contentchannel (e.g., regular commenter, infrequent commenter, never commented,etc.), channel topic (e.g., most frequently discussed topic or keywords,channel name, channel purpose as determined by a moderator, etc.),channel association with tertiary user accounts associated with thesecondary user account, or based on any other suitable parameter. Forexample, content posted to a content channel that the secondary useraccount is currently viewing can be deemed highly relevant to thesecondary user account, while content posted to a content channel thatthe secondary user account has never viewed can be deemed irrelevant tothe secondary user account. The rarity score of the content for thecontent channel can be determined based on: the overall frequency ofcontent generation for the content channel (example shown in FIG. 5),the generation frequency of content having the content's subject matter,the authoring user account's posting frequency within the contentchannel, or based on any other suitable parameter. For example, contentposted in a content channel having a high content posting frequency canbe weighted lower than content posted in a content channel having a lowcontent posting frequency.

Each factor's value and/or factor's relevance to the secondary useraccount can additionally decay as a function of time, location, or anyother suitable parameter, and/or be reinforced with new interactionsbetween the secondary user account and data object. For example, theassociation strength between a primary and secondary user account canweaken as over time, but be reinforced with frequent interactions. In asecond example, the association strength between the secondary useraccount and the content channel can weaken with increased distancebetween the second user device and a physical location associated withthe content channel. However, the content relevance can decay in anyother suitable manner. The content's relevance to the second user ispreferably determined based on a current value of the factors (e.g., atthe time of analysis), but can alternatively be determined based on thefactor values at any other suitable time. The content relevance can bedetermined using machine learning techniques, calculated using anequation (e.g., where each factor is weighted), selected from apredetermined chart or graph based on one or more factors, or otherwisedetermined.

In one variation, the content relevance can be determined by a set oftrained modules based on the factor values. The modules can employ aprobabilistic method, heuristic method, deterministic method, neuralnetwork method, and/or any other suitable approach to determine contentrelevance. In this variation, the method 200 can optionally include: inresponse to determining that the content is relevant to the user andpresenting the content to the user, determining a user action on thecontent and updating the modules based on the user action. For example,if a user takes an action indicative of interest on the content (e.g.,selects the content to visit the content channel, generates derivatorycontent based on the content, replies to the content, shares thecontent, such as to another content channel, etc.), the module can bereinforced based on the content's factors and user action. In a secondexample, if a user takes an action indicative of non-interest on thecontent (e.g., not acting on the content, scrolling past the contentbeyond a threshold speed, actively deleting or muting the content,etc.), the module can be re-trained based on the content's factors anduser action. Additionally or alternatively, indicators of user interestin the recommended content can be otherwise used. However, the contentrelevance can be otherwise determined.

In one variation in which the SN clients store local versions of thedata objects (e.g., in a DVCS system), the SN client can receive thepacket (e.g., content, content identifier, etc.), determine thecontent's relevance to the user, and discard the packet in response tothe content's relevance falling below a threshold relevance value.Alternatively, the secondary client can receive the packet, store thepacket for a predetermined period of time in response to the content'srelevance falling below a threshold relevance value, periodically assessthe content's relevance to the secondary user account (e.g., when thesecondary user account takes predetermined actions, such as joining orviewing new channels, etc.), and discard the packet after thepredetermined period of time. However, determining content relevance canbe performed in any suitable manner.

5. Examples

In a first example, when relevant content is inserted into a firstcontent channel (e.g., a second user's home channel) associated with theuser account based on past user account digital interaction and/or pastuser device physical locations or connections, a copy of the content isinserted as a snippet to the content channel currently viewed by theuser. Alternatively, the copy of the content can be added to apredetermined endpoint, such as the user account's home channel. Thecontent copy is preferably identified by the same global identifier asthe original content within the first channel, but can alternatively beidentified by a different global identifier. When the content copy isselected by the user account, the first channel can be automaticallyopened. This can additionally include automatically associating the useraccount with the source channel, authoring user account, user accountsassociated with the source channel (e.g., viewing, members, etc.),content lineage, content subject matter, or any other suitable parameteror data object. Alternatively, selection of the content version can openan annotation tool, where the annotated content can be posted to theuser account's current channel, the source channel, or any othersuitable channel. The annotated content is preferably associated with aglobal identifier different from the source content global identifier,but can alternatively be associated with the same identifier.

In a second example, historic content in a content channel can beautomatically summarized, deleted, or otherwise decayed over time (e.g.,after a predetermined period of time has passed). Content summarizationcan include selecting a subset of the historic content for retention,where the retained content can include the most viewed content, mostresponded-to content, most referenced or shared content, or any othersuitable content. Additionally or alternatively, content summarizationcan include processing the subject matter of the content (e.g., one ormore pieces), and generating or selecting a representative quote, frame,or other sub-component of the content. However, the content can beotherwise summarized.

In a third example, new data objects can be automatically created inresponse to detection of a wildcard. In a fourth example, a user can addvarious types of content (e.g., text, images, video, audio, etc.)through the same interface. In a specific example, a short input (e.g.,short selection) of the interfaces' input region can bring up akeyboard, while a long input can automatically launch the videocamera.In a fifth example, new avatars (e.g., content representative of theuser account) can be applied only to content subsequently posted by theuser account. In a sixth example, different actions can be taken on thecontent in response to receipt of different inputs. In a first specificexample, a short selection of the content can open the source channel, along selection (e.g., click and hold) of the content can open anannotation tool, and selecting and sliding the content horizontally canpost a copy of the content (e.g., identified by the same or differentglobal identifier as the acted-upon content) in a new channel. Theseactions can be tracked (e.g., locally, globally) to determine thevirality of the content and/or content relevance to user accounts.

In a seventh example, auxiliary applications can be connected to thesocial networking system (e.g., via an SDK). When the auxiliaryapplication is deemed relevant to a user account, a reference to theauxiliary application can be automatically inserted into a channelassociated with the user account (e.g., currently viewed channel, homechannel, etc.). The reference can be associated with (e.g., link to) anaction for the auxiliary application, such as opening the auxiliaryapplication on the user device, downloading the auxiliary application,or any other suitable action. The reference can be automaticallygenerated, predetermined, or otherwise determined. In a specificexample, the auxiliary application can be deemed relevant to a useraccount (running on a user device) when other user accounts running ondevices physically proximal the user device have the auxiliaryapplication open. However, the social networking system can otherwiseinterface with auxiliary applications.

In an eighth example, the social networking system can automaticallycomplete user inputs based on associated data objects. A client canreceive partial user input and determine (e.g., retrieve, filter, etc.)a list of data objects (e.g., text, images, videos, channels, etc.) thatare related to the partial input from the data objects associated withthe user account. By searching the extended-local social graph of theuser account, this example can function to tailor recommendations,auto-completed content, or other features to the user account. In aspecific example (e.g., shown in FIG. 7), the client can receive “su” asa partial user input, request all content associated with words ortopics starting with “su” from the associated data objects, sort thereturned content in decreasing relevancy order, and present the dataobjects as suggested auto-complete content. In a second specificexample, the client can receive “sushi restaurant” from a user account,request all sushi restaurants reviewed or physically visited by otheruser accounts associated with the user account, and present the list ofsushi restaurants in decreasing relevancy order to the user. In a thirdspecific example, the client can automatically determine that an eventis being planned within a content channel (e.g., based on NLP),automatically determine the event details, and automatically add theevent details to the calendars associated with the user accountsassociated with the content channel (e.g., actively posting within thecontent channel, viewing the content channel, etc.). However, the useraccount's social graph can be otherwise leveraged.

In a ninth example, the client can be integrated with secondaryapplications of the social networking system (e.g., browserapplications), where the secondary applications can function as anotherdata object that responds to predefined events (e.g., client postingevents, etc.). The secondary application can be specific to and/orapplied to a user account, client, content channel, or other datastructure. The secondary application can additionally or alternativelybe run on the client (e.g., automatically updated/installed). Secondaryapplication management can be centralized (e.g., at a remote computingsystem), distributed (e.g., different versions hosted by different userdevices, where a version stored by a first user device is updated whenthe first user device connects to a second user device storing a laterversion), or otherwise managed. The secondary application cansupplement, modify, or otherwise influence client operation. Thesecondary application can additionally function as a connection betweenthe client and a different computing system (e.g., where the clients arepart of a DVCS system and the secondary application functions as aconnection to a remote computing system, gaming system, etc.), orperform any other suitable functionality. The secondary application canbe developed on the client, on a separate data structure (e.g.,browser), or otherwise developed.

In a first specific example, the secondary application can perform theauto-complete functionalities, where the client posts a request to thesecondary application, and the secondary application returns a list ofcontent for chat auto complete. In a second specific example, thesecondary application requests a client to take a snapshot of the localclient environment (e.g., visual snapshot, snapshot of current settings,snapshot of current content, snapshot of current data structure), wherethe secondary application can display one or more client snapshots fromone or more user account at a predetermined endpoint (e.g., contentchannel, browser, etc.). The secondary application can have differentfunctionalities, capabilities, or responses when: run on differentdevices, applied to different data objects, or executed in associationwith different runtime environments. For example, the secondaryapplication can show different sets of information, such asadministrative information, unit testing, and debugging info, when runon a browser instead of a client. In a second specific example, thesecondary application can be associated with a game match within adigital game (e.g., a MMORPG system), where the secondary applicationcan automatically change color of a channel's navigation bar to indicatea match parameter value (e.g., player's status, who's winning, etc.) touser accounts viewing the content channel. However, the secondaryapplication can operate in any other suitable manner.

As shown in FIG. 9, in a second specific example, the secondaryapplication can include an application development tool for developingauxiliary and/or secondary applications for the client. The applicationdevelopment tool is preferably displayed at the client (e.g., as acolumn side-by-side with a channel column, as a tab, etc.), in order toenable previewing of features developed with the application developmenttool, but can optionally be an independent tool. However, theapplication development tool can otherwise operate. In a third specificexample, a secondary application can aggregate content of a specifictype posted by a user (e.g., aggregate all media captured with thecamera of the user device associated with the user, aggregate all moviesposted to any channel by the user, etc.). Aggregated content can bepublished at a channel, subchannel, contextual pocket, and/or othersuitable component.

As shown in FIG. 9, in a tenth example, the client can be integratedwith a web reader application. The web reader application can browse,display, interact with, and/or perform any other suitable action inrelation to the web. Rendering websites and/or web applications with theweb reader can include modifying the presentation style (e.g., visualsuch as font and color, audio, etc.) of the website and/or webapplication (e.g., to improve display at the user device), automaticallydetermining and extracting content snippets for posting in the contentchannel, and/or otherwise rendering all or part of the website and/orweb application.

In an eleventh example, the client can integrate with a third partyservice (e.g., through a secondary application). Integrating with thirdparty services can be in response to user authorization, based on userpreferences, based on default settings, and/or performed at any suitabletime. In a specific example, a client can integrate with a third partycloud storage service. Files stored in the third party cloud storageservice can be accessible (e.g., downloaded, viewed), shared (e.g.,through invitations to other contacts, posted to content channels,contextual pockets, etc.), associated with permission levels, and/orotherwise manipulated by the client. However, integration with a thirdparty service can be otherwise performed.

An alternative embodiment preferably implements the above methods in acomputer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions. Theinstructions are preferably executed by computer-executable componentspreferably integrated with a system. The system can include a pluralityof clients, each hosting one or more user accounts, where the pluralityof user accounts can be transiently linked through virtual connections(e.g., socially, through actions, through common associations, etc.),physical connections, or other connections. The computer-readable mediummay be stored on any suitable computer readable media such as RAMs,ROMs, flash memory, EEPROMs, optical devices (CD or DVD), hard drives,floppy drives, or any suitable device. The computer-executable componentis preferably a processor but the instructions may alternatively oradditionally be executed by any suitable dedicated hardware device.Although omitted for conciseness, the preferred embodiments includeevery combination and permutation of the various system components andthe various method processes, where the method processes can beperformed in any suitable order, sequentially or concurrently. As aperson skilled in the art will recognize from the previous detaileddescription and from the figures and claims, modifications and changescan be made to the preferred embodiments of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope of this invention defined in the followingclaims.

We claim:
 1. A distributed social network (SN) comprising: a set ofremote channel nodes storing a set of distributed channel identifiers,the set of remote channel nodes comprising a channel node configured to:store a channel identifier from the set of distributed channelidentifiers; store a set of user account identifiers associated with thechannel identifier; receive a media update for media associated with amedia channel identified by the channel identifier; and transmit themedia update to a first user account identified by the set of useraccount identifiers; and a first SN client operating on a first userdevice associated with the first user account, the first SN clientconfigured to: store a first local channel at the first user device, thefirst local channel corresponding to the media channel and comprisingthe media; receive the media update from the channel node; and updatethe first local channel with the media update.